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Use of a Psychophysiological Script-driven Imagery Experiment to Study Trauma-related Dissociation in Borderline Personality Disorder
Published on: March 8, 2018
Learning processes in the professional development of mental health counselors: knowledge restructuring and illness
1Institute for Didactic Research and Teacher Education, University of Augsburg, 86159, Augsburg, Germany, josef.strasser@zdfl.uni-augsburg.de.
Abstract:
An important part of learning processes in the professional development of counselors is the integration of declarative knowledge and professional experience. It was investigated in-how-far mental health counselors at different levels of expertise (experts, intermediates, novices) differ in their availability of experience-based knowledge structures. Participants were prompted with 20 client problems. They had to explain those problems, the explanations were analyzed using think-aloud protocols. The results show that experts' knowledge is organized in script-like structures that integrate declarative knowledge and professional experience and help experts in accessing relevant information about cases. Novices revealed less integrated knowledge structures. It is concluded that knowledge restructuring and illness script formation are crucial parts of the professional learning of counselors.
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